An experimental study of defrosting behaviors on the fin-tube heat exchanger with PTC heating sheet

PTC 전열시트를 사용한 핀-관 열교환기의 제상 특성에 관한 실험적 연구

In this work, the defrosting characteristics of PTC heating sheet used as a defrosting heat source of fin-tube heat exchanger in a refrigerator have been experimentally compared with those of conventional electric heater. It is found that the characteristics of water draining rate with defrosting time show smoothly oscillating pattern when PTC heating sheet is used, and the drained water is completely melted. The defrosting efficiency of the PTC heating sheet is about 75%, which represents about 25% higher than that of the electric heater. A reduction of defrosting time and an increase of defrosting efficiency may be obtained by improving the arrangement of heating elements of the heating sheet. It is shown that the defrosting time of PTC heating sheet increases linearly with the amount of frost, however the defrosting efficiency is nearly constant. In the application to the refrigerating system, one should notice the fact that the defrosting performance of PTC heating sheet may be defraded due to the repeated operations.